in circulation until the caliphate of Uthman, who reduced them to one /:tarf and ordered all other texts based on the remaining six to be destroyed. This interpreta‌ tion was adopted by al-Taban, ١٤ and by others. According to al-Qur ubi,
ion was [indeed] adopted by the majority of scholars, ١٥ and so did Abu Amr b. Abd al-Barr say this. ١٦ They supported their argument on the traditions related by Ibn Abi Bakra, Abu Dawud, and others mentioned above, as well as on a tradition reported by Yunus on the authority of Ibn Shihab, who said:

SaId b. ai-Musayyab informed me about the person who is mentioned by God in the verse, "And we know very well that ... they say: Only a mortal teaches him (Q. ١٦:١٠٣)." He [this person] was infatuated by the fact that he was engaged in writ‌ ing down the revelation. The Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his progeny) used to dictate to him [the words] sami un alfm or azfzun /:lakfm, or something to that effect, used as verse endings. Then the Messenger, being under [the influence of the] revelation, would be distracted from him. The man would sometimes inquire from the Messenger of God, saying, "Is it azrzun /:lakfm or sam!un allm or azlzun alrm?" The Messenger would say to him, "Whichever you write is all right." He was infatu‌ ated by this. Thus, he used to say, "Mu ammad
lation] to me, and I write what I wish."
They also drew their conclusion from Anass reading of Q. ٧٣:٦, as follows: lnna nashiat al-layli hiya ashaddu wat an wa a:jwaba qllan [instead of wa aqwama qflan].١٧
Someone said to him, "٠ Abu f:lamza, the word in the verse is aqwama." He said,
"Aqwama, a:jwaba, or ahda are all the same."١٨ They also drew their conclusion from Ibn Masuds reading of Q. ٣٦:٢٩: Inn kanat illa zaqiyyatan [instead of :jayf:tatan] wa/:tidatan; ١٩ and from a tradition reported by al-Tabari from Mul)arnmad b. Bashshar and Abu al-Saib, whose chain of transmission goes back to Humam. According to this tradition, Abu al-Darda was teaching a man how to read lnna shajarata al-zaqqumi ta amu al-athfmi [The tree ofZaqqum is the food of the sinner (Q. ٤٤:٤٣-٤٤)]. But the man, again and again, read it as lnna shajarata al-zaqqumi ta amu al-yatfmi [The tree of Zaqqum is the food of the orphan]. After unsuccessfully making the man repeat the verse, Abu al-Darda realized that he did not understand the difference between athfm (sinner) and yatlm (orphan) regarding the closeness between them. So he taught him: lnna shajarata al-zaqqumf ta amu al-fojiri [The tree of zaqqum is the food of the wicked].٢٠
Moreover, they also made their inference from the traditions, cited above, that indicate how far one can go in facilitating the reading: "As long as no verse about punishment ends in mercy, nor a verse of mercy in punishment." The limits set down in this injunction serve no purpose except if the reference to the seven barfs is in‌ tended as a permission to substitute some words for others. Consequently, an excep‌ tion was made in that a verse about punishment may not be concluded with mercy, nor a verse about mercy with punishment. According to these traditions-and once the concise traditions which deal with the seven letters have been referred back to the traditions which deal with the matter at length and make it clear-we have no choice but to understand those traditions in the sense explained above.
However, all the meanings that have been suggested for this expression are extra‌
neous to the object of these traditions, as we shall indicate; therefore, we must dis-